Research 

Overview of Our Approach

Toxicities from immune checkpoint inhibitors remain poorly understood. Understanding why they occur in certain patients, how to best treat them, and optimizing care in health care systems are key unanswered questions. We have brought together physicians and scientists from a broad range of specialties to address these questions using clinical, translational, and basic science research. 

Collaborations

V-POINT's success hinges on close collaboration among physicians and scientists, as well as experts across multiple subspecialties. Toxicities from immunotherapies affect every organ system, and we look forward to bringing together experts from every disease group for comprehensive patient care.

• Our Team

Research Opportunities

The V-POINT program is interested in recruiting talented physician-scientists and scientists from different organ disciplines. If interested, please contact us. Send inquiries to Kathryn Mashburn at k.mashburn@vumc.org.

Additional Resources

• Fulminant Myocarditis with Combination Immune Checkpoint Blockade. Johnson DB, Balko JM, Compton ML, Chalkias S, Gorham J, Xu Y, Hicks M, Puzanov I, Alexander MR, Bloomer TL, Becker JR, Slosky DA, Phillips EJ, Pilkinton MA, Craig-Owens L, Kola N, Plautz G, Reshef DS, Deutsch JS, Deering RP, Olenchock BA, Lichtman AH, Roden DM, Seidman CE, Koralnik IJ, Seidman JG, Hoffman RD, Taube JM, Diaz LA Jr, Anders RA, Sosman JA, Moslehi JJ. N Engl J Med. 2016 Nov 3;375(18):1749-1755. PMID: 27806233

• Increased reporting of fatal immune checkpoint inhibitor-associated myocarditis. Moslehi JJ, Salem JE, Sosman JA, Lebrun-Vignes B, Johnson DB. Lancet. 2018 Mar 10;391(10124):933. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)30533-6. No abstract available. PMID: 29536852

• A case report of clonal EBV-like memory CD4+ T cell activation in fatal checkpoint inhibitor-induced encephalitis. Johnson DB, McDonnell WJ, Gonzalez-Ericsson PI, Al-Rohil RN, Mobley BC, Salem JE, Wang DY, Sanchez V, Wang Y, Chastain CA, Barker K, Liang Y, Warren S, Beechem JM, Menzies AM, Tio M, Long GV, Cohen JV, Guidon AC, O'Hare M, Chandra S, Chowdhary A, Lebrun-Vignes B, Goldinger SM, Rushing EJ, Buchbinder EI, Mallal SA, Shi C, Xu Y, Moslehi JJ, Sanders ME, Sosman JA, Balko JM. Nat Med. 2019 Aug;25(8):1243-1250. doi: 10.1038/s41591-019-0523-2. Epub 2019 Jul 22. PMID: 31332390

• Cardiovascular toxicities associated with immune checkpoint inhibitors: an observational, retrospective, pharmacovigilance study. Salem JE, Manouchehri A, Moey M, Lebrun-Vignes B, Bastarache L, Pariente A, Gobert A, Spano JP, Balko JM, Bonaca MP, Roden DM, Johnson DB, Moslehi JJ. Lancet Oncol. 2018 Dec;19(12):1579-1589. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(18)30608-9. Epub 2018 Nov 12. PMID: 30442497

• Fatal Toxic Effects Associated With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Wang DY, Salem JE, Cohen JV, Chandra S, Menzer C, Ye F, Zhao S, Das S, Beckermann KE, Ha L, Rathmell WK, Ancell KK, Balko JM, Bowman C, Davis EJ, Chism DD, Horn L, Long GV, Carlino MS, Lebrun-Vignes B, Eroglu Z, Hassel JC, Menzies AM, Sosman JA, Sullivan RJ, Moslehi JJ, Johnson DB. JAMA Oncol. 2018 Dec 1;4(12):1721-1728. doi: 10.1001/jamaoncol.2018.3923. Erratum in: JAMA Oncol. 2018 Dec 1;4(12):1792. PMID: 30242316

• Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Toxicity in 2018. Johnson DB, Chandra S, Sosman JA. JAMA. 2018 Oct 23;320(16):1702-1703. doi: 10.1001/jama.2018.13995. No abstract available. PMID: 30286224

• Myocarditis in the Setting of Cancer Therapeutics: Proposed Case Definitions for Emerging Clinical Syndromes in Cardio-Oncology. Bonaca MP, Olenchock BA, Salem JE, Wiviott SD, Ederhy S, Cohen A, Stewart GC, Choueiri TK, Di Carli M, Allenbach Y, Kumbhani DJ, Heinzerling L, Amiri-Kordestani L, Lyon AR, Thavendiranathan P, Padera R, Lichtman A, Liu PP, Johnson DB, Moslehi J. Circulation. 2019 Jul 2;140(2):80-91. PMID: 31390169

• Abatacept for Severe Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor-Associated Myocarditis. Salem JE, Allenbach Y, Vozy A, Brechot N, Johnson DB, Moslehi JJ, Kerneis M. N Engl J Med. 2019 Jun 13;380(24):2377-2379. doi: 10.1056/NEJMc1901677. No abstract available. PMID: 31189043

• Ipilimumab Therapy in Patients With Advanced Melanoma and Preexisting Autoimmune Disorders. Johnson DB, Sullivan RJ, Ott PA, Carlino MS, Khushalani NI, Ye F, Guminski A, Puzanov I, Lawrence DP, Buchbinder EI, Mudigonda T, Spencer K, Bender C, Lee J, Kaufman HL, Menzies AM, Hassel JC, Mehnert JM, Sosman JA, Long GV, Clark JI. JAMA Oncol. 2016 Feb;2(2):234-40. doi: 10.1001/jamaoncol.2015.4368. PMID: 26633184

• Neurologic toxicity associated with immune checkpoint inhibitors: a pharmacovigilance study. Johnson DB, Manouchehri A, Haugh AM, Quach HT, Balko JM, Lebrun-Vignes B, Mammen A, Moslehi JJ, Salem JE. J Immunother Cancer. 2019 May 22;7(1):134. doi: 10.1186/s40425-019-0617-x. PMID: 31118078

• Association of Anti-Programmed Cell Death 1 Cutaneous Toxic Effects With Outcomes in Patients With Advanced Melanoma. Quach HT, Dewan AK, Davis EJ, Ancell KK, Fan R, Ye F, Johnson DB. JAMA Oncol. 2019 Jun 1;5(6):906-908. doi: 10.1001/jamaoncol.2019.0046. No abstract available. PMID: 30998826

• Hematologic Complications of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors. Davis EJ, Salem JE, Young A, Green JR, Ferrell PB, Ancell KK, Lebrun-Vignes B, Moslehi JJ, Johnson DB. Oncologist. 2019 May;24(5):584-588. doi: 10.1634/theoncologist.2018-0574. Epub 2019 Feb 28. PMID: 30819785

• Increased Reporting of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor-Associated Diabetes. Wright JJ, Salem JE, Johnson DB, Lebrun-Vignes B, Stamatouli A, Thomas JW, Herold KC, Moslehi J, Powers AC. Diabetes Care. 2018 Dec;41(12):e150-e151. doi: 10.2337/dc18-1465. Epub 2018 Oct 10. No abstract available. PMID: 30305348 

• Cardiovascular toxicities associated with immune checkpoint inhibitors. Hu JR, Florido R, Lipson EJ, Naidoo J, Ardehali R, Tocchetti CG, Lyon AR, Padera RF, Johnson DB, Moslehi J. Cardiovasc Res. 2019 Apr 15;115(5):854-868. doi: 10.1093/cvr/cvz026. Erratum in: Cardiovasc Res. 2019 Apr 15;115(5):868. PMID: 30715219

• Anti-PD-1-Induced Pneumonitis Is Associated with Persistent Imaging Abnormalities in Melanoma Patients. Johnson DB, Taylor KB, Cohen JV, Ayoubi N, Haugh AM, Wang DY, Schlick BD, Voorhees AL, Gage KL, Fintelmann FJ, Sullivan RJ, Eroglu Z, Abramson RG. Cancer Immunol Res. 2019 Nov;7(11):1755-1759. doi: 10.1158/2326-6066.CIR-18-0717. Epub 2019 Aug 28. PMID: 31462410

• Clinical characterization of colitis arising from anti-PD-1 based therapy. Wang DY, Mooradian MJ, Kim D, Shah NJ, Fenton SE, Conry RM, Mehta R, Silk AW, Zhou A, Compton ML, Al-Rohil RN, Lee S, Voorhees AL, Ha L, McKee S, Norrell JT, Mehnert J, Puzanov I, Sosman JA, Chandra S, Gibney GT, Rapisuwon S, Eroglu Z, Sullivan R, Johnson DB. Oncoimmunology. 2018 Oct 31;8(1):e1524695. doi: 10.1080/2162402X.2018.1524695. eCollection 2019. PMID: 30546965

• Incidence of immune checkpoint inhibitor-related colitis in solid tumor patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Wang DY, Ye F, Zhao S, Johnson DB. Oncoimmunology. 2017 Jul 5;6(10):e1344805. doi: 10.1080/2162402X.2017.1344805. eCollection 2017. PMID: 29123955